Vahid

The gig: President of Starline Tours and Tourcoach International. Starline Tours is one of the largest and oldest tour companies in Southern California, offering bus tours of celebrity homes and entertainment attractions. Combined, the two companies operate 150 buses and employ about 250 workers. Background: Sapir came to Los Angeles in 1963 as an Iranian exchange student, studying engineering at Western State College. While working as a parking lot attendant, he befriended Bud Delp, the former chauffeur of theater entrepreneur Sid Grauman.

The gig: President of Starline Tours and Tourcoach International. Starline Tours is one of the largest and oldest tour companies in Southern California, offering bus tours of celebrity homes and entertainment attractions. Combined, the two companies operate 150 buses and employ about 250 workers. Background: Sapir came to Los Angeles in 1963 as an Iranian exchange student, studying engineering at Western State College. While working as a parking lot attendant, he befriended Bud Delp, the former chauffeur of theater entrepreneur Sid Grauman.

One man was killed and two others injured early Sunday in a head-on collision between two cars on Coast Highway near Emerald Bay in Laguna Beach, police said. A passenger in one of the cars, Richard Allen Shearn, 18, of El Toro, was killed instantly, Laguna Beach Police Sgt. Don Barney said. The accident occurred about 2:43 a.m. when a southbound 1967 Chevrolet Camaro driven by Fardad Vahid, 18, of El Toro apparently crossed into northbound traffic lanes, Barney said.

Broadcom Corp., the Irvine maker of chips for phones and consumer electronics, fired Senior Vice President Vahid Manian after questions surfaced about the validity of academic degrees listed in his company biography. A search has begun for his replacement, the company said in a regulatory filing. Manian didn't earn bachelor's and MBA degrees from UC Irvine that are cited on the company's website, according to the school's registrar. The executive, who oversaw global manufacturing at Broadcom, attended the school from September 1979 to August 1983 but didn't earn any degrees.

Iran lifted a five-day blockade of the French Embassy in Tehran, but French police maintained their vigil at the Iranian Embassy in Paris, Iran's Foreign Ministry said. Iranian security forces blockaded the mission, trapping 28 staff members inside, after French police surrounded Iran's Paris embassy during a terrorism investigation. French police want to question an embassy employee, Vahid Gordji, in connection with last year's bomb attacks in Paris that killed 11 people and injured 162.

A man was arrested on suspicion of hit-and-run and drunk driving after an accident that injured seven people about 8 p.m. Sunday, authorities said. A car driven by Ramiro Salazar Cruz, 25, collided with a van at Rice and Latigo avenues in east Oxnard, police said. Driver Vahid Sotoudeh, 44, of Los Altos and his six passengers were injured, the most seriously a 13-year-old boy who suffered a punctured lung. All are expected to survive, authorities said.

Broadcom Corp. Senior Vice President Vahid Manian didn't earn degrees from UC Irvine that are listed in his company biography, according to the school's registrar. Manian, who oversees global manufacturing at the Irvine chip maker, attended UC Irvine between September 1979 and August 1983 but wasn't awarded any degrees, said Mark Fonseca, who is responsible for privacy issues in the school registrar's office. Manian's biography on Broadcom's website says he has bachelor's and masters of business administration degrees from the school.

Re "He's Reached a Final Verdict," Voices, May 21: Vahid Imani writes that when we get a notice for jury duty, we should go and do our part. My husband got a notice for federal jury duty in Fresno and went to do his part. He was told it would be petit jury service, but when he got there he found that it would be grand jury service for 18 to 24 months. When he told the judge he did not get paid for jury service she told him to go work nights and weekends. I doubt the judges have to work nights and weekends.

Canada's Alcan Aluminium, France's Pechiney and Switzerland's Algroup said they were in "advanced discussions" for a three-way merger that would create the world's biggest aluminum company, with annual revenue of more than $24 billion, including non-aluminum businesses. Current leader Alcoa Inc. has $15.3 billion in annual revenue. The merger would "create an entity that has balance-sheet strength, product diversity and management strength," said Vahid Fathi, analyst at ABN Amro.

BRAZIL Coach Dunga won the World Cup in 1994 as an uncompromising defensive midfielder. Now, he coaches the way he played, with an eye on results, not style. Brazil will be effective, not attractive. Even so, with the likes of Maicon , Kaka , Robinho , and Luis Fabiano , the goals should still flow. PORTUGAL The Portuguese finished fourth in 2006 but are in the toughest first-round group this time. Coach Carlos Queiroz has the world's most expensive player in winger/forward Cristiano Ronaldo , a useful understudy in Simao , a decent playmaker in Deco and a good defender in Ricardo Carvalho , but not much else.